image: Chondrus crispus is commonly known as Irish Moss. It is a common type of seaweed along the northern Atlantic coast of North America and Europe. This seaweed is the source of the polysaccharides known as carrageenans which are commonly used as thickeners and stabilizers in processed foods, including ice cream and lunch meats. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Andrea Ottesen, University of Maryland, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Pictures often reveal the inner workings of science or technology in a way that is unequaled by words—the surprisingly beautiful simple shape of seaweed, for example, or the anatomy behind the human nose or the complex elegance of a bat’s flight pattern. Graphic presentations on those subjects and seven others have been named winners in the 2007 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored jointly by the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit international science society and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The winners have brought their graphic images to the level of high art through this contest. “Science and NSF are rewarding researchers for sharing the results and the excitement of their work through visualization,” said Monica M. Bradford, executive editor of the journal Science. “The impact of these winning entries is far greater than can be achieved by written descriptions alone. We applaud the winners and encourage other scientists to follow their lead.”
Currently in its fifth year, the international competition honors artists who use visual media to promote our understanding of scientific research. The criteria for judging the entries included visual impact, effective communication and freshness/originality.
The winning entries communicate information about the stunning details of the 15-centimeter-wide feathery Irish moss under natural light, the complex anatomy of the human nasal passage and sinus of a 33-year-old Chinese woman’s examination for thyroid disease, the fluid flight motion of the short-nosed fruit bat in Southeast Asia, the effect of smoking on the brain, hurricane rain clouds and the stratosphere and how hurricanes may intensify, and more. The 28 September 2007 issue of Science will feature the winning entries, which will also be freely available at www.sciencemag.org/sciext/vis2007/ and the NSF’s website at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/.
The 2007 winning entries are included in the following four categories:
PHOTOGRAPHY
First Place (tie):
Andrea Ottesen, University of Maryland, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture
Irish Moss, Chondrus crispus
Dr. Kai-hung Fung, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong
What lies behind our nose?
Honorable Mention:
Adam C. Siegel, Harvard University
George M. Whitesides, Harvard University
Tiny Metal Pathways
INFORMATIONAL GRAPHICS
First Place:
David J. Willis, Brown University/MIT
Mykhaylo Kostandov, Brown University
Modeling the flight of a bat
Honorable Mention:
Mark McGowan, Exploratorium Institute
David Goodsell, Exploratorium Institute
How Does A Muscle Work?
NON-INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
First Place:
Donna DeSmet, Hurd Studios
Jason Guerrero, Hurd Studios
Nicotine: The Physiologic Mechanism of Tobacco Dependence
Honorable Mentions (tie):
Gregory W. Shirah, NASA/GSFC
Lori K. Perkins, NASA/GSFC
Towers in the Tempest
Douglas N. Arnold, University of Minnesota
Jonathan Rogness, University of Minnesota
Mobius Transformations Revealed
INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
First Place:
Carl Wieman, University of Colorado, and PhET Team
Physics Education Technology Project (PhET)
Honorable Mention:
Cathryn Tune, CCG Metamedia
Samantha Belmont, CCG Metamedia
Breast Cancer Virtual Anatomy
Further information about the 2007 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge is available at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/. Please contact Susan Mason at +1-703-292-8070 (phone) or smason@nsf.gov (email).
Reporters may request copies of the Science feature, which describes the winning entries, from the AAAS Office of Public Programs’ Science Press Package team at +1-202-326-6440 (phone) +1-202-789-0455 (fax) or scipak@aaas.org (email).
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and serves 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, reaching 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The nonprofit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
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